SOUND & APPLIQUÉ Quilt Project

Reposted Press Release:  Ashleigh Gordon, Artistic/Executive Director and violist of Castle of our Skins.




Title: Free Motion Circle Blade Buggy Wheel-2021
Artist: Alpha M. Bruton
Size: 27” X 45” x 28
Medium: African scrap pieces, muslin, embroidery, 
puff quilt layering technique hand-stitched, 
free-motion quilting.



Detail of square patch

 Castle of our Skins Weaves Music, Spoken Word, and African American Quilts
Honoring Ancestral Stories Through the Arts

Brattleboro, VT - Castle of our Skins continues its ninth season theme, which is stitching together stories, history, and art with Sound & Appliqué, an in-person concert complete with two world premieres, seven original quilts, and original poetry created by Shirley Graham Du Bois Creative in Residence Marlanda Dekine. The event was scheduled to include a 1:00 p.m. virtual lecture by textile artist L’Merchie Frazier on Saturday, January 22, followed by a 7:00 p.m. concert performance at the Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyce Way Brattleboro, VT. 

The decision to restrict the presence of non-academic affiliated people on its campus became very evident. The School also made the decision to turn all January 2022 live and in-person performances (such as our January 21 event) into a digital experience with no live audience present. As such, we will be recording a concert film in lieu of performing live and will not be able to support your physical presence in Boston for the event.

For up-to-the-minute information and COVID-19 safety protocols, please visit the Brattleboro Music Center at www.bmcvt.org. Due to the current national and global surge of COVID-19 Omicron cases, our long-awaited January 21, 2022, Sound & Appliqué concert performance has been postponed. 

“African American quilting traditions are synonymous with making beautiful things out of scraps,” Ashleigh Gordon, Artistic/Executive Director and violist of Castle of our Skins, states. 
“That history is a direct metaphor for our existence and resilience as Black people and serves as the inspiration for this program. Lauren McCall and Elizabeth A. Brown were selected from an international call to composers to create a chamber piece inspired by African American quilting traditions. Their works, which respectively draw inspiration from coded messages used during the escape from slavery and the words and work of Gee’s Bend quilter Louisiana P. Bendolph, will receive their world premieres. 

Original poetry exploring the significance of ancestral land, water, and memory will accompany a triptych of commissioned quilts by Boston-based artist L’Merchie Frazier. In addition, four quilts created by Chicago-based artist Alpha M. Bruton will be paired with select movements from Florence B. Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint for string quartet. 

“This chamber work,” notes Gordon, “uses the musical technique of cutting up, overlapping, and re-envisioning bits of melodies to create something new and beautiful. It makes for a natural pairing to the creative juxtaposition of fabric used by master quilters of past and present.”

Sound & Appliqué includes the following performers: Flutist Orlando Cela; Violinists Gabriela Díaz and Mina Lavcheva;

Violist Ashleigh Gordon; Cellist Leo Eguchi; Pianist Sarah Bob; and Narrator Brianna J. Robinson.

https://bmcvt.org/event/season-guest-castles-of-our-skins/. Regular updates will be posted on all social media platforms (@castleskins): Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

A concert film version recorded at the Longy School of Music of Bard College will be released later this season.

Sound & Appliqué is funded by grants from the Fromm Music Foundation and the Harvard Musical Association. The Sound & Appliqué Commissions are supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Helen F. Whitaker.

Fund, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, and anonymous donors.

ABOUT CASTLE OF OUR SKINS

Born out of the desire to foster cultural curiosity, Castle of our Skins is a Black arts institution that centers Black music,

culture, and history through people, programming, and partnerships. From classrooms to concert halls and beyond, the Castle

of our Skins invinto Black heritage and cul explorationture, spotlighting both unsung and celebrated past and present figures. For more information, visit www.castleskins.org.

Sound & Appliqué is funded by grants from the Fromm Music Foundation and the Harvard Musical Association, with additional support from the Brattleboro Music Center. In addition, the Sound & Appliqué Commissions are supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, and anonymous donors.